C. Analysis

Analysis of Methods

One of the methods
we are going to use to determine differences between EMS and Hadronic air shower events involves the evaluation the series of plots and
graphs that were produced by CORSIKA and our own coding. We are going
to use these graphs as a means of determining the differences between
Hadronic and Electromagnetic air showers. Through our research we
have discovered that the methods we have employed, evaluating
daughter particle distances from the center, and evaluating daughter
particle types produced are effective ways of determining the
differences of Hadronic and Electromagnetic air showers.

In one of our graphs
we are comparing the distance of daughter particles from the center
of the interaction from both proton and gamma showers. We intend to
determine similar qualities between similar particles in order to
produce a means of particle identification.

In another one of
our graphs we are comparing the daughter particle spread of both
Hadronic and Electromagnetic showers. This method helped us determine
the different types of daughter particles that will be produced
between both Hadronic and Electromagnetic showers in one interaction.

In our plots we are
comparing the images of the Hadronic and Electromagnetic showers.
Some visual differences we need to analysis in the plots are high
amounts of energy or low amounts of energy, if the energy is more
compressed or more spread out, and weather or not the interaction
produces daughter particles or not.

If the air shower is
produce by particles that have a mass and a charge then visually the
plot will reveal high amounts of energy, the energy will be more
compressed, and there will daughter particles like muons present. If
the air shower is produced by particles without a mass and a charge
then there will be lower amounts of energy, the energy will be more
spread out, and there will be no daughter particles.

CORSIKA Simulation

The
computational model we are implementing in our project is written in
the FORTRAN and C programming languages and is known as CORSIKA
version 6900. CORSIKA is a Monte Carlo program, meaning it sets
random values for simulation, hence it looks at a wide array of
simulations and interactions at different energies and altitudes.
Because of such we find that CORSIKA is non-limiting and useful for a
wide variety of terms. Besides imaging gamma and proton showers,
which are the focus of our project, CORSIKA also simulates air
showers created by other subatomic particles, nuclei of certain
elements, and photons.

Physical
Model

Our physical model is based on a
wire array detector known as a Geiger Muller detector and consists of
several arrays of thin wire, approximately 250 micrometers in
diameter, which is laid out and charged with high voltage. These
detectors are assembled in an array and are designed to have several
layers of wire arrays. The physical properties of these detectors
allow particles with a charge to be counted because when these
particles encounter the array they interact with the voltage carried
through the sense wires and change the overall voltage running
through the system, which initiates our counter to consider this
small change as a particle interaction. We must allow for arrays to
be layered in order to effectively determine a particle’s origin.
The reason for such lies in the fact that background radiation
interacts with the detector and can cause changes in voltage within
one array although if data from layered arrays is considered we can
consider background radiation ruled out. Such phenomenon exists
because we find that background radiation has a low implicit velocity
and charge, therefore it should cause a change in only one array
although we find that particles resulting from cosmic rays and their
daughter particles hold an inherit high charge and velocity and
should likewise pass through multiple detectors easily. With the
combination of a semi large array of particles we should be able to
determine the pattern produced by several real air showers and
compare them to data found through our simulations in CORSIKA and our
original coding to determine the parent particle which initiated the
shower.

At this point we have not been
able to run our detector due to problems associated with the particle
counter and power supply. This side project is still in progress and
we intend to complete and run it in order to possibly compare data
collected from this with our own coding and the CORSIKA models.